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Dave Cockrum

David Emmett "Dave" Cockrum (November 11, 1943 – November 26, 2006)[1] was an American comics artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. Cockrum was a prolific and inventive costume designer who updated the uniforms of the Legion of Super-Heroes. He did the same for the new X-Men and many of their antagonists in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Cockrum's ambition was to become a comic-book creator himself. Following his school graduation, Cockrum joined the United States Navy for six years.[5] During this time, Cockrum married Kline[6] and had a child with her, Ivan Sean.[6][7] He created the character Nightcrawler during this time, though the character would not be used until years later.[8]

When the position of artist for "The Legion of Super-Heroes" was left vacant, Cockrum sought the job and was rewarded with his first assignment drawing a feature.[10] Cockrum's work on the feature, beginning with a backup story in Superboy #184 (April 1972) and recurring in several following issues "established an exciting new vibe".[11] He remained the artist on the Superboy series after the Legion of Super-Heroes became the main feature of the book with #197 and his art redefined the look of the Legion, creating new costumes and designs that would last until artist Keith Giffen did a similar revamp in the 1980s. Cockrum drew the story wherein the characters Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel were married in Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #200 (Feb. 1974).[12] Cockrum eventually left DC and the Legion in a dispute involving the return of his original artwork from that issue.[2][9]

Prior to his departure, Cockrum had been preparing to be the regular artist on an ongoing Captain Marvel Jr. back-up strip in the Shazam! series for DC.[2]

Moving over to a staff position at Marvel, Cockrum and Len Wein under the direction of editor Roy Thomas created the new X-Men, co-creating such characters as Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. Storm and Nightcrawler were directly based on characters which Cockrum had intended to introduce into the Legion of Super-Heroes storyline had he remained on the title.[13] These characters made their debut in Giant-Size X-Men #1 ([July] 1975),[14] and then in a relaunched Uncanny X-Men (beginning with issue #94).

Cockrum's penciled interiors on those first few issues of the "new" X-Men were dark and appealingly dramatic . . . . Cockrum gave those first few issues of X-Men a sumptuous, late-'70s cinema style that separated the book from the rest of Marvel's line, and superhero comics in general. Reading those X-Men comics felt like sneaking into a movie starring Sean Connery or Sigourney Weaver, not simply like flipping on the television. Uncanny X-Men really felt new and different, almost right away, and Cockrum's art was a tremendous part of that.[6]

Cockrum stayed with the title until 1977 (as main penciller on issues #94–105 and 107), when he was succeeded by penciller John Byrne with issue #108.[15] The final issue of his run introduced the Starjammers, a spacefaring superhero team he had originally intended to debut in their own series.[8]

He and Paty Cockrum were married on April 28, 1978.[16] Cockrum quit his staff job at Marvel in 1979 and his angry resignation letter was printed in Iron Man #127 (October 1979)[17] but he continued to work for Marvel as a freelancer. Cockrum was Marvel's primary cover artist during this period,[13] and also penciled and/or inked a number of other titles for DC during this time. Although not a regular artist on the series, he re-designed the costume for Ms. Marvel.[18] When John Byrne left the X-Men in 1981, Cockrum returned to the title with issue #145 but left again with issue #164 (Dec. 1982) to work on The Futurians.[2]

In later years, Cockrum worked less frequently in comics. In 2004, he became seriously ill due to complications from diabetes and pneumonia,[19] and a number of fellow artists and writers led by Clifford Meth and Neal Adams organized a fundraising project. The auction, run by Heritage Auctions at the WizardWorld Chicago show in August, raised over $25,000.[9] Marvel eventually provided an undisclosed amount of financial support in exchange for Cockrum agreeing to terms protected by a nondisclosure agreement. Cockrum said publicly he was "very happy that so many people cared about my work and about me. ... I'm enormously grateful to Clifford Meth and Neal Adams for having moved this forward. ... I'm very happy with what everyone has done, including Marvel."[19]

Cockrum was due to draw an eight-page story in Giant Size X-Men #3 (2005), but a recurrence of his health problems prevented this. Adams filled in.[20]

Cockrum died at his home in Belton, South Carolina,[6] on the morning of November 26, 2006, due to complications from diabetes. He was survived by his wife of many years, Paty Cockrum, a longtime member of Marvel's 1970s production staff, and by his son and two stepchildren.[9]

The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art bestowed the first annual Dave & Paty Cockrum Scholarship to a promising artist in 2008. The scholarship, which was organized by Meth, continues each year and is funded by sales of comics from Cockrum's personal collection.[21]

^McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 151. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. After more than a year as Murphy Anderson's background inker, Dave Cockrum landed his big DC break as the 'Legion of Super-Heroes' artist." "Cockrum's debut story, which was written by Cary Bates, quickly established an exciting new vibe for the super-team.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)

^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 159: "Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel became the first Legionnaires to tie the knot. The wedding planners were writer Cary Bates and artist Dave Cockrum."

^Sanderson, Peter; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2008). "1970s". Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 169. ISBN978-0756641238. [Editor Roy] Thomas realized that if X-Men was to be successfully revived, it needed an exciting new concept. Thomas came up with just such an idea: the X-Men would become an international team, with members from other countries as well as the United States. Writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum were assigned to the new project and the result was Giant-Size X-Men #1.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)

^Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 181: "When 'new' X-Men co-creator Dave Cockrum left the series, John Byrne took over as penciler and co-plotter. In his first issue, Byrne and writer Chris Claremont wound up the Shi'ar story arc."

^Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 186: "Ms. Marvel's...series was in the hands of Chris Claremont... and Dave Cockrum, a master of imaginative costume design. In this issue [#20], Claremont and Cockrum unveiled the latter's new stylish black costume for Ms. Marvel."